Despite Queen Victoria's promise in 1858 that all subjects
under the British crown would be treated equally under the
law, the revolt left a legacy of mistrust between the ruler
and the ruled. In the ensuing years, the British often assumed
a posture of racial arrogance as "sahibs" who strove to remain
aloof from "native contamination." This attitude was perhaps
best captured in Rudyard Kipling's lament that Englishmen were
destined to "take up the white man's burden."
As a security precaution, the British increased the ratio
of British to Indian troops following the mutiny. In 1857
British India's armies had had 45,000 Britons to 240,000
Indian troops. By 1863 this ratio had changed to a "safer mix"
of 65,000 British to 140,000 Indian soldiers. In the aftermath
of the revolt, which had begun among Bengalis in the British
Indian Army, the British formed an opinion, later refined as a
theory, that there were martial and no martial races in India.
The no martial races included the Bengalis; the martial
included primarily the Punjabis and the Pathans, who supported
the British during the revolt .
The transfer of control from the British East India Company
to the British crown accelerated the pace of development in
India. A great transformation took place in the economy in the
late nineteenth century. The British authorities quickly set
out to improve inland transportation and communications
systems, primarily for strategic and administrative reasons.
By 1870 an extended network of railroads, coupled with the
removal of internal customs barriers and transit duties,
opened up interior markets to domestic and foreign trade and
improved links between what is now Bangladesh and Calcutta.
India also found itself within the orbit of worldwide markets,
especially with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Foreign
trade, though under virtual British monopoly, was stimulated.
India exported raw materials for world markets, and the
economy was quickly transformed into a colonial agricultural
arm of British industry.
